Beam Me Up, Scotty (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is clearly meant to supplement the already fairly extensive knowledge possessed by your average Trekkie: e.g., the book presumes you know who Majel Barrett is (Number 1/Nurse Chapel/Deanna Troi's mother/Gene Rodenberry's wife) and that you're up-to-date with earlier gossip about the crew dynamics, which allows Doohan to gloss over his feelings about William Shatner: "I have to admit, I just don't like the man. And, as has been well-documented elsewhere, he didn't exactly have a knack for generating good feelings about him." As evidenced by the above, the writing leaves something to be desired, but there are insights and trivia enough for the fan. Actually, the best part predates Star Dates, as Doohan recounts a youth defined mostly by his family's poverty and his father's alcoholism. In 1939, motivated, no doubt, by equal parts devotion to duty and desire for escape, Doohan joined the military, where he spent five years in training before seeing action on the beaches of Normandy. On returning, he trained at a theater in New York City, worked with Leslie Nielsen, Jackie Gleason, Tony Randall; got a few TV roles; and even had a run-in with the entertainment industry's red-baiters. Doohan's a basically sanguine guy, with real insights into the extremely sharp double edges of his fame. After Star Trek limped to the end of its third season, Doohan said he was "saddled with all the disadvantages of a popular series (namely, being locked into a particular characterization) and none of the advantages (namely, continued employment)." With the old crew now unlikely to appear in any subsequent movies, Doohan clearly hopes this will clear the decks for a new acting career, sans brogue.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

More than 10 years older than the other Star Trek actors who have given us their memoirs, Doohan remembers things they can't, such as radio as the primary entertainment medium and World War II from a participant's perspective. The war remains very bright in his memory, and his war experiences constitute a big, engrossing part of this book. A Canadian army lieutenant, he took part in D-Day, caught some machine-gun fire, and lost a finger. He also lost his intended bride to a doctor back home, so he immediately became an air surveillance pilot. He survived the war, anyway, and coming home after six years in the service, studied acting at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse (Richard Boone, Lee Marvin, and close friend Leslie Nielsen were classmates), finally faced down the father whose drinking and violence had marred his childhood, and married his first wife in 1949. The marriage lasted 17 years, not happily; meanwhile, he moved to TV and Hollywood. It is page 127 before Star Trek memories commence. Those who think that isn't soon enough should get in a 12-step group for Trekkoholics. Sure, there are good things in Doohan's ST recollections (e.g., he allows that an outstanding performance by Bill Shatner as Captain Kirk was "pretty okay" --ouch!), but what precedes it is arguably better. Broad-minded Trekkers should chow down. Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Pocket; Reprint edition (December 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671520563
• ISBN-13: 978-0671520564
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #494,637 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A brief comment, July 25, 2005

By	magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

I was 14 when the original Star Trek came out, and it was always the high point of the week for me. I wasn't exactly a nerd in school, although the science classes were my favorite, and so I thought the science and technology in Star Trek was the coolest stuff I had ever seen. In 1965 it was still the Cold War and we lived under the specter of possible global nuclear annihilation, and then along comes this little TV series, which showed that humans might finally abolish war and achieve peace (at least on earth), and that science and technology might create a better future for the human race. The combination of the positive message along with all the cool technology was an irresistible combination for me, and so I hardly ever missed a show.

So although I've never been to a Trekkie conference or participated in any of the typical fandom events, I was a big fan of the original (and subsequent series) and so still count myself as a true "Trekkie."

With the recent passing of James Doohan last week this brief autobiobraphy will remain the one and only commentary on his life. The book concentrates more on Doohan's earlier life and his experiences and career up till Star Trek, including his poor childhood, his military service during WWII, and early acting experiences, and most people would probably prefer that he devoted more space to that. But Doohan was 10 years older than most of the other people in the cast, except for DeForest Kelly, and it was interesting to read his perspective on many of these events. He is honest in admitting his dislike for Capt. Kirk, which takes some courage--since that by itself might predispose some people to giving the book a one-star review.

One thing I have to mention is that the scene where Scotty is explaining to Capt. Kirk when he finally punched the Klingon officer that started the fight in the bar in the episode, The Trouble with Tribbles, was considered the funniest scene in the whole series by the fans. I'm not going to go into anymore details than that or the dialog since I'm sure all the diehard fans here remember the scene from start to finish.

I just had one other comment, which is that the character of Scotty was interesting in that basically what they did was to create a likable and charismatic nerd or geek. I've always found Americans' widespread disdain for nerds paradoxical since we are the most high-tech society on earth and are responsible for inventing and developing almost all the high-tech science, engineering, and medical technology, and we even win most of Nobel Prizes in science, and yet nerds and geeks still get no respect here, and are still widely derided. :-) Well, Scotty's amiable and charismatic personality both on and off the set changed all that and made it, if not fashionable to be a geek, at least acceptable.

I will always remember Doohan, who was one of my personal favorites among the cast, and can only hope that he beams up to a better place than the world he left behind.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Honest and Frank book, January 28, 2000

By A Customer

I liked this autobiography by James Doohan because he didn't try to "pretty up" the events that occurred in his life, or sugar-coat his opinions of others. In short, he is more honest than other writers of autobiographies, and seems to be taking a lot of flak for it. James Doohan was the personal assistant to Meisner at the Playhouse for years, and you don't get in that position for nothing. Those who criticized his "unauthentic " accent in their review obviously didn't read the chapter he devoted to how he came to adopt it, rather than the completely unintelligable accent authentic Scottish brogue can be.

My only two quibbles of the book were that I wished he'd gone into a little more detail about the general goings-on during Star Trek, and that, while certainly a unique experience, that he'd kept his early sexual encounter private. Some private things are, well,...private. The reader may not like some of the things he says or take issue with his attitudes, but he honestly expresses his feelings about things, which allows us to see the person as they are, and should be the goal of an autobiography. Overall, recommended to those who prefer honesty over poetic verse.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's still good, December 26, 2002

By	"jenny745" (Georgia) - See all my reviews

I read this book about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I thought it was pretty entertaining. No, he doesn't really talk much about ST. This isn't really a Scotty book. I mean, if he was talking about Scotty he would've started talking about ST on page 1. No, not a Scotty book. This is the life and times of James Doohan. It makes an interesting read, especially if you want to read about James.

I must say that I'm proud of James leaving it simple that he didn't like Shatner. I'm sure we would've had 1 star reviews still if he dissed Shatner all through out the book. After reading the other ST autobiographies, I feel each one had the chance to do some major dissing. The didn't take that route. They have sense enough to realize that ST fans are interested in the show and not with the backstage battles of Shatner vs. Everybody.